UCU Digital Institutional Repository(UCUDIR)
Welcome to the Uganda Christian University Digital Institutional Repositoy (UCUDIR). This is the University's official Institutional Repository. It aims to collect, preserve and showcase the intellectual output of staff and students of UCU. This growing collection of research includes peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, working papers, theses, and more.
- The Repository ingests documents, audio, video, datasets and their corresponding Dublin Core metadata
- The aim is to open up this content to local and global audiences, with have optimized well for Google Scholar so your items here shows up on Google Scholar searches
- we also issue permanent urls and trustworthy identifiers, including optional integrations with handle.net and DataCite DOI
Not Registered? click here to Register or or if already registered: Click To submit your Item ::For more information visit any UCU Library branch
Communities in UCUDIR
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Items in this community present a concise summary of information that can help readers understand, and likely make decisions about, government policies.
- This is a collection of Masters and Doctoral theses and dissertations submitted in electronic format to the Uganda Christian University.
Recent Submissions
The Policy-practice Divide in Financial Inclusion in Six African States
(Journal of Development Policy and Practice, 2025-12-24) Joseph Jakisa Owor
Over the past decade, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has witnessed a surge in National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS), framed as vehicles for reducing poverty, promoting equity and accelerating economic transformation. Yet, a persistent policy-practice divide undermines these ambitions, particularly in fragile and low-capacity states. This article investigates this divide through a comparative analysis of six East African countries—Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan—drawing on the Global Findex Database (2017, 2021), NFIS documents and peer-reviewed literature. Building on institutional theory, fragility studies and policy implementation models, we propose a conceptual framework linking policy inputs, institutional capacity and fragility to outcomes in access, usage and equity. Findings reveal that while Kenya and Rwanda demonstrate relatively strong alignment between strategy and practice, anchored in regulatory innovation and digital infrastructure, fragile contexts such as Burundi and South Sudan show limited progress, with informal systems filling the void left by formal institutions. The article’s originality lies in its explanation of why these divides persist, highlighting institutional capacity, governance quality and fragility as critical mediators. We recommend recalibrating NFIS towards usage-driven goals, embedding gender responsiveness, supporting informal-formal linkages and strengthening monitoring systems. By reframing financial inclusion as both an equity imperative and a macroeconomic resilience strategy, this article advances scholarly and policy debates on how African states can bridge the implementation gap.
Financial Inclusion Outcomes in East Africa, 2017-2025: A Cross-Country Analysis of Access, Usage, Quality and Empowerment
(Advanced Research in Economics and Business Strategy Journal, 2025-12-31) Joseph Jakisa Owor
Financial inclusion is central to sustainable development in Africa, yet its effectiveness depends on more than simply expanding access to financial accounts. This study examines progress in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda between 2017 and 2025, focusing on whether increased access to financial services has
translated into meaningful empowerment outcomes. The analysis is guided by four hypotheses: (1) access does not guarantee regular usage; (2) service quality determines sustained inclusion; (3) digital channels can foster empowerment; and (4) gender disparities persist despite narrowing gaps in account
ownership. Findings reveal divergent country experiences. Kenya is approaching saturation in account ownership, with digital services increasingly integrated into daily life and contributing to higher levels of resilience, though risks of over-indebtedness are evident. Tanzania demonstrates strong gains in mobile money
adoption and interoperability, yet empowerment outcomes remain limited due to persistent service quality concerns. Uganda shows steady growth in access, but usage continues to lag, constrained by high transaction costs, weak consumer protection, and entrenched gender inequalities.
Overall, East Africa outperforms many developing regions in expanding access, but empowerment outcomes remain uneven and fall below global averages. The study concludes that the next frontier of financial inclusion lies not in widening access but in strengthening quality, building resilience, and embedding gender-sensitive digital innovations. Policy recommendations call for user-centred strategies that emphasize affordability, transparency, consumer protection, and empowerment, ensuring that financial inclusion becomes a transformative pathway to sustainable development.
Africa’s Preparedness for AI-Driven HRM Practices: A Systematic Literature Review
(International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2025-08-27) Joseph Jakisa Owor; Kofi Sarpong Adu-Manu; Mary Naula Owor
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming Human Resource Management (HRM) globally, reshaping recruitment, workforce analytics, and employee engagement. While the Global North has advanced rapidly, Africa’s adoption remains limited and uneven due to infrastructural gaps, weak regulatory frameworks, and low AI literacy. This study employs a systematic literature review (SLR) guided by PRISMA methodology to assess Africa’s readiness for AI-driven HRM across six dimensions: digital infrastructure, policy frameworks, organizational capacity, skills readiness, ethical and cultural alignment, and employee wellbeing. The findings highlight a dual reality. On one side, Africa struggles with poor broadband penetration, fragmented policies, and insufficient training among HR professionals. On the other, positive developments are emerging, including innovation hubs in Kenya and Rwanda, growing digital literacy in South Africa, and increasing university–industry partnerships. Comparative insights from the Global North and peers such as India reveal both shared challenges and valuable learning pathways. This review contributes to knowledge by moving beyond deficit-based perspectives. It underscores Africa’s unique opportunities to pursue Afrocentric, ethically grounded, and culturally sensitive strategies for AI integration in HRM. In doing so, it emphasizes context-specific approaches that can transform AI adoption into an inclusive and responsible driver of organizational change and human development.
Uganda’s Post‐colonial Privatisation Policy in Higher Education: An Integrative Literature Review and Case Study Analysis
(Discover Education, 2026-02-02) Allan Muganga; Oluwasegun Adesola Oladipo; Michael Agyemang Adarkwah
Globally, the trend toward privatizing higher education has been accelerating, driven by economic and policy shifts. Uganda has aligned with this movement, becoming one of the African countries implementing privatization to enhance
accessibility and efficiency in its universities. However, the benefits and challenges of higher education privatization in Uganda remain underexplored. This study assesses them through two private universities as case studies. An integrative literature review identified challenges in Uganda’s privatization policy. This was followed by qualitative interviews with sixteen (16) stakeholders (students, n=10; parents, n=3; employers, n=3) to assess its impact on accessibility, quality, funding, and employment. Semi-structured interviews involving students, parents, and employers revealed that although
the policy led to the massification of higher education, it also led to the commodification and academisation of education, whereby business principles have been imported into the country’s higher education sector, thus focusing more on profit maximisation other than quality education delivery. The study recommends that the Ugandan government and policymakers, such as the Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Council for Higher Education, do more to safeguard the education system from being too commercialised, commodified, and over-marketised.
Is Everywhere I Go Home? Reflections on the Acculturation Journey Of African International Students in China
(International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2026-02-02) Allan Muganga; Yohana Kifle Mekonen; Michael Agyemang Adarkwah; Oluwasegun A. Oladipo; Chiamaka Nneoma Nweze; , Saira Bibi
This qualitative study explores the acculturation journey of African international students in China, focusing on the evolution of their experiences. While previous research has often overlooked the progressive nature of international students, particularly from Africa, this study addresses this gap by examining how these students navigate academic, cultural, and psychological challenges over time. Using a conceptual framework informed by existing acculturation theories, the study identified six key dimensions shaping the acculturation process. Fifteen African international students, aged 25–36 years, with lengths of stay ranging from 4 to 7 years, were selected
from three research-intensive universities in China. The findings reveal that early acculturation stress, including challenges like language barriers and culture shock, significantly impacts these students’ psychological well-being and makes securing internships more difficult. However, students who accessed strong peer networks and received supervisor support demonstrated better coping strategies and higher satisfaction by their final year. This study shows that acculturation is a dynamic process and suggests that educational institutions should improve support systems to better support the well-being and academic success of international students.